Device for carrying looped textiles



July 7, 1970 R. VOGEL ET AL 3,518,846

DEVICE FOR CARRYING LOOPED TEXTILES Filed July 25, 1968 FIG 1.

. "ml F IG. 2. Azmam ENTOR' United States Patent 3,518,846 DEVICE FORCARRYING LOOPED TEXTILES Robert Vogel, Dusseldorf-Heerdt, and AlfredKorsch, Krefeld, Germany, assignors to Gerber & Co., G.m.b.H., Krefeld,Germany, a corporation of Germany Filed July 25, 1968, Ser. No. 747,521Int. Cl. D06f 37/00 US. Cl. 68-5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Adevice for carrying textiles in a looped position through a chamber,comprising a center vertical column, a chamber enclosing the column, aplurality of rod means radially extending from the column and adapted torotate about the column in an essentially horizontal plane, inlet meansattached to the chamber and adapted to feed textiles onto the rod means,and exit means attached to the chamber and adapted to remove thetextiles. The textiles are removed after the textiles have traveled atleast 180 around the column from the direction of the inlet.

THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to devices for processingtextiles in a looped position, such as steamers, dyers, dryers, and thelike. This invention is particularly useful when processing textiles ofsubstantial width, especially in excess of 18 inches.

Prior art devices for treating suspended loops of textiles have beenconstructed wherein endless chains are caused to move about a pathwhereupon the goods are placed on rods or other extensions, carried bythe rods and thereafter removed. Substantial difiiculty has arisen,however, in operating these types of devices with wide textile goods,particularly since complicated mechanisms must be devised to permit thechange in direction of the means for carrying the rods. It has beenproposed in the past to support the rods on both ends, but this hascaused a great difficulty in properly constructing reversing wheels tomaintain level support for the rods. Otherwise, the goods would fold orbunch together, thereby causing incomplete or unequal treatment of thegoods.

In a later development, the prior art has devised a means whereby thecarrier rods are supported only on one end and the chain carrying therods is guided around two reversing wheels. Even this design, however,has met with some ditficulty due to the expense in manufacturing aproper chain to support the great weight of the textiles on the rodswhile still permitting smooth movement of the rods to avoid theaforementioned bunching and sliding of the textile.

It has now been discovered that a particularly simple and efficientdevice for carrying looped textiles through a chamber can be made in thefollowing manner. Basically, the invention encompasses the use of asingle column which supports at its top a wheel in which the variousrods are radially mounted out from the center of the column. By thisconstruction, the rods may be substantially and securely mounted sincethere is no need for these rods to change from one support or track toanother. Moreover, steam or other vapors which are being employed totreat the textiles as they pass through the device are much moreeffectively circulated due to the uniform shape and construction of thechamber.

Other embodiments of the invention will become apparent on a furtherreading of the disclosure, particularly with reference to the drawings,in which:

3,518,846 Patented July 7, 1970 FIG. 1 represents a schematic drawing ofan embodiment of the present invention from the side; and

FIG. 2 is a top view of the device shown in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, a vertical central column 12 is positioned within achamber having outside Walls 10 and roof 11. Mounted on the column 12are a plurality of radially extending rods 14 which are adapted to carrythe textile 2 in a looped position about the central column 12 in thedirection as shown in FIG. 2 by arrows 16. The individual rods 14 areattached to a wheel 18 which is mounted on the central column 12 andwhich is adapted to support the rods 14. The rods are rotated in thedirection shown in FIG. 2 by arrow 16 by a motor 20, shown in FIG. 1,which, through steam seal 21, 1'0- tates gear 22 about which cable 23 isafiixed to rotate the cylinder 12. In a preferred embodiment, the motor20 can be located below the false floor 11a which acts as a sealant fromthe atmosphere contained in the chamber.

The textile 2 is introduced into the device by means of an inlet meansattached to the chamber itself. As shown in FIG. 1, the textile 2 entersan inlet 24 and passes around pulleys 25 and 25a along to a roll 26 tocontact the first rod 14a. Positioned between the roll 26 and the rodreceiving the textile 14a is a blower 28 which causes the textile 2 tobellow or extend in back of the rod 14a as it rotates about the column12. Then, as the next rod 14 contacts the textile 2 coming from roll 26,a new loop is formed continuously and uniformly.

In accordance with the basic concepts of this invention, it has beenfound that the textile should he removed from the device after it hasbeen carried in a looped position for at least around the column fromthe direction of the inlet means. It is believed that a turn of at least180 is necessary to properly effect treatment of the textile within thedevice. In a preferred embodiment, which is shown in the drawings, thetextile is withdrawn after it has traveled approximately 270 about thecolumn from the direction of the inlet means. This is accomplished, asshown in the figures by passing the textile 2 over a discharge roller 30and a reversing roller 31. In this manner, the textile 2 is capable ofpassing under the textile being introduced into the device (or over itshould it be desirable).

By the use of a 270 rotation of the textile around the column, thecrossing of the incoming web of material and the out going web ofmaterial is seen to make the most efficient use of the space within thechamber. The blower 28 shown in the FIG. 1, which has a primary functionof causing the formation of loops, additionally suplies the major shareof the required vapor or gas within the chamber, thereby causing aninitial direct contact of the gas or vapor with the textile.

Should more circulation be desirable, this is readily attainable in thepresent invention due to the central design and unity of construction. Ablower 32 may be run by a fan 33 to circulate vapor or gas through thetop of the column 12 and about the textiles as they pass through thedevice. This last feature is particularly important when very lightwoven goods are geing processed, for the reason that the flow of vaporor gas through the column and out the top as shown by arrow 34 causesthe flow of the gas or vapor downward, and pressure is exerted upon thebottoms of the loops of textile 2 which prevents the sticking of theloops to one another. As in the case of very light woven goods, steamingdevices or other treating machines with parallel suspension loops havebeen unable to avoid sticking during the operation thereof.

In the case where extraordinarily heavy goods are processed, it ispossible to increase the support of the rods 14 by use of a track 34 asshown in FIG. I which accepts a wheel 35 mounted on the ends of the rods14 such that the wheels rotate freely and support the rods 14.

In another embodiment, it is possible to incrementally rotate the rodmeans to thereby intermittently alter the position of the textiles. Suchmay be accomplished as shown in FIG. 2 by the addition of spindle means37 which radially extend from each of the rods 14 and engage a pluralityof pin means 36 mounted on a circular wall 38, whereby the rod means arerotated by incremental rotation of the spindle means 37 when contactingpins 36 to cause an intermittent shift in the position of the textile 2as it is looped about the rods 14.

In yet another embodiment, it is desirable to cause the textile to enterthe device in a manner such that the texand said inlet means to placesaid textile in a looped position for travel on said rod means; and

wherein said chamber further contains track means adapted to support theend of said rod means furthest from said column.

2. The device of claim 2 which further includes means for incrementallyrotating said rod means to thereby intermittently alter the position ofsaid textiles thereon, saidmeans for. incrementally rotating said rodmeans includes a spindle means radially extending from each of said rodmeans and adapted to engage a plurality of pin means, whereby said rodmeans rotate an incremental amount as each pin means is contacted bysaid spindle means.

tile enters tangent to an imaginary circle 40 which has I I its axis 41concentric with the axis of the column 35. This tangential inlet, withthe imaginary circle, allows for proper lining up of the looped textileso that uniform and consecutive loops are formed while minimizingvariation in the treatment of the textile as it passes through 1. Adevice for carrying textiles in a looped position through a chamber,comprising:

a central vertical column;

a chamber enclosing said column;

a plurality of rod means mounted on and radially extending fromsaidcolumn and adapted to rotate about said column in an essentiallyhorizontal plane;

drive means for rotating said rod means;

inlet means attached to said chamber and adapted to feed said textileonto said rod means;

exit means attached to said chamber and adapted to remove said textilefrom said rod means at a point wherein said textile has traveled atleast 180 around said column from the direction of said inlet means;

loop forming means cooperating with said rod means 3. The device ofclaim 11 wherein said loop forming means includes blower meanspositioned interiorly of said chamber and adapted to direct said textilein a downward direction from said rod means, whereby said textile isformed in a looped position.

4. The device of claim 1 wherein said inlet means is adapted to feedsaid textile onto said rod means such that said textile enterstangential to an imaginary circle having its axis concentric with theaxis of said column, said inlet means including roll means positioned toreceive said textile and align said textile with each rod means suchthat said rod means contacts said textile at a point where said rodmeans is perpendicular to the direction of travel of said textile.

5. The device of claim 1 wherein said column further includes means forcirculating gases Within said chamber, said means for circulating gasesbeing adapted to direct said gases downward towards the bottom of saidloops.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,205,539 6/1940 Owen 34157WILLIAM I. PRICE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 34-157

